Birthday of Congregationalism?

Dan Graves, MSL

Does your church have a congregational government? If local members
make its decisions rather than an outside bishop or presbytery, then
your form of church government is congregational. It is one of the most
common ways that Protestants govern their churches throughout the world
today.

When did congregationalism begin? There are several suggestions. Some
writers say the earliest churches planted by the apostles were run by
local congregations. However, most historians look at it as arising
within a tide of democratic ideals in the sixteenth century which it fed
and to which it contributed. They often point to this
day, June 19, 1567 as a red letter day in its origin.

This was the day that Richard Fitz and several others were arrested
in Plumber's Hall, London. To understand why, we need to remind
ourselves of conditions of that day. Many Englishmen and women were
unhappy with the Church of England. According to some it went too far in
reform. According to others, not far enough. Some of this last group
called for purifying the church. They were called Puritans. Others
wished to separate themselves entirely from the Church of England. They
became known as Separatists.

Around 1550 small, secret congregations of Separatists sprang up. One
was led by Richard Fitz and John Robinson (who later played a key role
as leader of the Pilgrim Fathers who came to America). Their movements
are hard to trace.

The Separatists really surfaced when they established what they
called a "Privye" or private church, one that would not answer to
English bishops or to Rome or any other religious authority. In short,
it would be governed by its own pastor and members. This put them on a
collision course with the queen who was head of the Church of England
and personally liked the color, splendor and ritual of worship that the
Puritans and Separatists detested.

One particular band of Separatists, reported as a hundred strong,
rented Plumber's Hall to celebrate a wedding. Before the nuptials were
fairly under way, the sheriff broke up the meeting.

He and his men arrested Richard Fitz, a deacon and others. Many of
these Plumber's Hall Separatists spent time in prison for illegal
religious activities. We know from a petition later put forth by the
Separatists that Fitz and several others paid for their religious views
with their lives.

Dexter, Henry Martyn. The Congregationalism of the Last 300
Years as Seen in its Literature. London: Hodder & Stoughton,
1970; p. 114 - 115.

Gregg, Frank Moody. The Founding of a Nation; the story of the
Pilgrim fathers, their voyage on the Mayflower, their early struggles,
hardships and dangers, and the beginnings of American democracy, as told
in the journals of Francis Beaumont, cavalier. Cleveland: Arthur H.
Clark Co., 1915. Source of the image.